Book Synopsis:
Asher Hunting wants revenge.
Specifically, he wants revenge on the drunk driver who killed his mom and got off on a technicality. No one seems to think this is healthy, though, which is how he ends up in a bereavement group (well, bereavement groups. He goes to several.) It’s there he makes some unexpected friends: There’s Sloane, who lost her dad to cancer; Will, who lost his little brother to a different kind of cancer; and eighty-year-old Henry, who was married to his wife for fifty years until she decided to die on her own terms. And it’s these three who Asher invites on a road trip from New Jersey to Graceland. Asher doesn’t tell them that he’s planning to steal his dad’s car, or the real reason that he wants to go to Tennessee (spoiler alert: it’s revenge)—but then again, the others don’t share their reasons for going, either.
Complete with unexpected revelations, lots of chicken Caesar salads at roadside restaurants, a stolen motorcycle, and an epic kiss at a rest stop minimart, what begins as the road trip to revenge might just turn into a path towards forgiveness.
My Review:
3.75/5 stars. This was a great story that was ruined by so much bad language. The story itself was a beautiful lesson on forgiveness and the never-ending cycle of revenge. The characters were compelling. There was a small but sweet romance. The level of emotion throughout was very well written. However, there were so many strong curse words in every chapter, and it made the experience less enjoyable.
A big thing that stood out to me immediately was the writing style. I don't know if it was intentional - reflecting Asher's flustered thoughts - but there were a lot of long sentences without any commas, just strings of text with no separation. I noticed this less as the book went on, so maybe it was an intentional visual representation of Asher's emotions, but it was very obvious at the beginning and a little hard to read sometimes.
Like I already mentioned, this was a very emotional book. I really felt for the characters and could understand why they made the decisions they did. I don't have much personal experience with grief, especially not to the level that the characters experienced it, but I felt like the representation of the different ways grief is expressed was accurate and respectful.
On that topic, It was interesting to me that each of the four characters grieved in different ways. Asher was full-on in the "anger" stage of grief for most of the book, Henry denied it and kept pretending that his wife was with them, Sloane kept pieces of her dad alive by continuing his interests, and Will tried to hide from the world. In the end, all of these different forms of grief became closer to acceptance, which I loved.
This book had a tiny romance subplot, but I thought it was well done. I liked that Asher and Sloane had a connection because of their shared experiences. They both understood loss in a way that other people never could. The way they helped each other to calm down and leaned on each other was very sweet.
My favorite plot thread was the letter that Asher's mom wrote to him when he was a baby. Each time he would think about or see it, he got closer and closer to reading it. I got excited every time he made progress, and it was great when he finally felt ready to open it and read part of it. The contents of the letter itself also added to Asher's final decision to move on and accept things. It was a nice part of the story.
One thing that wasn't necessarily good or bad, just interesting, was that there were references to God and the Bible, but not from a Christian perspective. One thing that was more negative, though, was that there was a very secular explanation to suffering. At one point, Asher said that "the world dishes out stuff arbitrarily" and "stuff happens randomly," when the reality is that a loving God allows things to happen for His ultimately good plan. I don't expect that perspective from a non-Christian book, but it could give readers wrong ideas.
Content:
Language: Very frequent uses of sh*t and f**k in multiple forms, fewer instances of p*ssed off and h*ll, and only one or two instances of d*ck and *ss, God's name taken in vain.
Sexual Content: Brief mention of "hooking up", one character asks if something is a "wierd sex game", kissing that isn't described plus one kiss that is described in some detail, mention of porn, mention of a gay romance movie, mention of a stripper.
Drugs/Alcohol: The whole plot centers around a car accident caused by a drunk driver, later on a character is described as "hammered" and he is very clearly drunk.
Violence/Gore: Asher has vivid nightmares and memories of the car accident, with gory details like decapitation and burning bodies
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